Unlike most trips in modern years, I slept most of the way to the shoot. I got about one hour of sleep the night before due to my cold/allergies and my insulin pump beeping the entire night from low blood sugar. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to come up and stay up. It was truly a night from hell.
When we got to the shoot, I took a few shots from 30 yards and could barely hold on the bag, let alone the dot. Then, I moved to 20 and shot 10 arrows in the black dot on the Morrell bag and called it good. I knew my aim would not be good for the day. I just didn't have the strength. My shoulders were a mess and the sickness had worn me down to a point of no return.
When I walked onto the rifle range and saw a caribou welcoming us as the first target of the day, I felt a sense of relief. I like starting on big targets. However, when I drew the bow, I could barely see the target and had no idea where I was holding on it. The sun was at the worst possible location at the time we started. The glare was brutal, and none of us had an umbrella to block the sun. I found the leg and quickly move the pin up the leg and continued straight up for about a foot then moved it to the right. When it settled, I pulled and started my day with an 11.
Moving to the next target, a medium alert deer, I knew we would encounter the same problem as we did with the caribou. This time the target was set back in the woods, and we were shooting across the rifle range and into the woods. It was another bomb -- no mercy. Once again, I tried to get the pin in a general area before pulling. When the shot broke, I felt good about it and it landed just under the 11.
When we stood on top of the 100-yard berm to shoot the third target, a javelina. I thought this was one of the best target sets of the day. The javelina stood on top of a high spot in the woods at a level down from where we were shooting. There was nothing but open air between the end of the berm and the target. Jeff Wagoner made a perfect shot on it, and I followed up with a pretty good one myself. I hit it a sliver to the left of the 11.
After shooting a hogzilla, we went up a steep hill and shot a long downhill brown bear that had a little angle on it. The footing wasn't good, and our feet were pointing downhill. Anyone who didn't watch their bubble would most likely hit to the right. It definitely was a tough shot. It was one of my most effortless shots of the day, and I executed it with perfect form and follow through and smoked the 11.
As we meandered across the hill through the next handful of targets, my day suddenly became extremely difficult. At times, I felt like I was a beginner. Every shot along the hill was straight uphill, and nothing was easy. This was the first time of the year that I shot any targets uphill, and these targets weren't gradual uphills... they were downright steep and long. When we got to the gobbling turkey, I knew it was probably one of the most difficult shots we would see the entire day. It was straight uphill and sitting on a tiny flat area. The setting of it made the angle cut the 10-ring in half in size. Looking at it, I knew it was between 35-40, and I also knew anything in a scoring ring would be good due to the difficulty level of the shot. Going last, all the other arrows were low. I could see the small, black wing feather on the right side of the 10-ring through my scope, so I held on that and hoped for the best. I should say I tried holding on it, as my hold was atrocious on almost all of the uphill shots. When the shot fired, the pin had actually momentarily stopped on the black spot, and the arrow struck it -- 10. Wshewww, pure luck. Anyone who doesn't say some luck is involved with shooting 3D is probably lying.
I made about three bad shots during the rounds, and the first one followed the great shot on the turkey. Not being able to hold the bow well, I tried my best to get and extremely long ;-) bedded stone sheep. I knew it was max distance according to my rangefinder as a minimum, as I always practice with my own rangefinder. After dialing the sight, I knew I would hang 10. However, my hold felt like I was a piece of clothing that someone got unstuck from the side of the washer during the spin cycle. I couldn't tell you where the pin was when the shot fired, but I could clearly see the arrow under the 8-ring. The way I had been holding the bow up to that point, I figured it would happen at some point. I just didn't know when the horrible hold would catch up to me.
As we started walking downhill, I prayed for some relief from the uphill shots. When it finally arrived on the trail through the lowlands, I felt like a rockstar again. My bow sat down nicely on every target, and I began executing great shots. Every shot I made was between a 9 and 10 on a scale of 10 being the best. However, I just couldn't buy an 11. Like last week in Louisiana when I couldn't buy a 12, the same held true on this day. I was all around it but never in it.
When we got to the lynx, I instantly realized it had a pretty steep angle on it from the blue stake. I also noticed that made the area above the 10 ring considerably larger than if the target had been broadside. This helped with my number, as I took note and decided I definitely wanted to miss high if I didn't have the right number. Missing low on a lynx could cause a disaster due to the location of the 10-ring being so low on the body.
Jeff led the target with a great shot and hit the top of the 10-ring. Feeling confident with my number, I held on his nock and executed my best shot of the day. It fired quickly and was effortless. The arrow landed just above the 10 ring, probably close to where the pin was sitting, as Jeff's arrow was kicked and the nock was higher than I thought it was when I aimed at it.
I executed a great shot or an 11 on the wolverine and continued with the trend on the antelope and bedded buck, with both of those arrows hitting perfect height but a hair to the left of the 11. At about that point in the round, I checked out. I was mentally exhausted and my lack of sleep from the previous night finally caught up to me. Then, we began shooting all uphill shots again, and my hold went to shit.
When I walked up to a stone sheep in the dark timber, I had to lead it off and Jake and Cole were walking the range. We began joking with them, and I gave them some constructive criticism. The little bit of distraction carried from that target through the rest of the day. I executed a decent shot on the sheep, but the pin had drifted a hair to the right, and I had to settle for an 8 that landed just out of the 10 ring.
I struggled mightily from the stone sheep until the end. I could no longer hold the bow or execute a good shot. I was spent. At the end of the day we had walked 5.4 miles according to Wades' step counter. When we had three targets left, I broke out my Stan SX2 and shot the last three targets with that release. The first shot was perfect on the long Dahl sheep , and the next two made me work hard to get it to fire. I had a lot of tension over the last handful of targets, and I was glad to put mat stuff away and call it a day.
A Few Last Thoughts
This shoot tested every part of a 3D shooters arsenal. Congratulations to anyone who shot well. This was a brutally nasty course in my opinion. It tested my mental fortitude and pushed me to the limit in every conceivable way. When I finished, I said it was one of the most difficult courses I've ever shot. However, I'm not sure if that's the case or if it was just the fact that I really struggled today. The struggle was real, and it made me reach deep within myself to keep trudging along and finding a way to grind through and incredible tough day of shooting.
While everyone likes to cast stones at people who set up courses, I know about the difficulty the task presents. Cole, Jake and the rest of the crew did a great job in my opinion. However, they need to work on shortening the walk between targets and possibly running an ASA type shoot in the lowlands. This is one of the best clubs I've ever seen to replicate and actual Pro-Am ASA setup. It could easily be done at this club on the road along the bottom. If I had one wish, it would be that our Northeast ASA would set up and actual ASA course so people could truly see what an ASA shoot is all about and what draws people to them.
The walk was far too long today for the average person, but Cole and Jake did the best they could. I thought the difficulty level was very high. It challenged 3D shooters to use every tool they carried in their toolbox. Unfortunately, I left my level on the bench for a few shots and lost pressure on the screw gun while nailing down a few shingles. That's the way it goes on a course like this one. Somehow, I found a way to survive the day and live to tell about it. This definitely was not me at my best, but you can't always be at your best. My shot was weak today, as I felt weak. Hopefully, I will begin feeling better this week and be ready for Pipestem in a few weeks.
If you shot well, I'd like to congratulate you. That was no easy feat on that course. If you didn't shoot well, I'm sure it exposed some weaknesses, but I wouldn't get too wound up about it. It was one of those courses that could make a great shooter look bad and a bad one look great. It also had the ability to make you look as you should. I hope when you look back at your day, you can find good and bad in it and improve upon whatever you need to improve on. Jake and Cole can be applauded for that.
On a side note, I have to tell any of you who are coming to the next Mead Invitational to be awarded that is will be payback time for Jake and Cole. I took it easy on them this year, but ol' Cole will no longer have that coyote haunting him that he shot at a month ago. Instead, he'll have about 27 targets haunting him. Thanks again guys for being open to constructive criticism and for having the forethought to have the IBO state championship at your club. It is appreciated by all of us who attended. My shout-out of the week goes to Payson Rienhardt and Jeff Wagoner. Payson killed it on a tough course and deserves a show of hands. That was no easy feat for a blue stake, especially after coming from the red stake last year. Great job, Payson. You just need to stop beating up on us old guys so we don't have to feel so bad about ourselves. Also, congratulations to Jeff Wagoner. I've seen Jeff shoot some great rounds, but he was holding great today and executing great shots. I was a pleasure to watch him shoot well. He has a setup that is clicking right now, and I look forward to seeing what he does as the summer progresses. As always, thanks to my dad and Wade for keeping me company on a great day on the 3D range. I love being with the guys I've been with for the last 30 years. There's nothing quite like it. Wade shot awesome today, but he was bested my my buddy George Connors. They both shot great. George just ended the day a few points better today. They were both deserving of a victory.
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